Core JavaScript Reference 1.5: | 22

A regular expression object contains the pattern of a regular expression. It has properties and methods for using that regular expression to find and replace matches in strings.

In addition to the properties of an individual regular expression object that you create using the RegExp constructor function, the predefined RegExp object has static properties that are set whenever any regular expression is used.

Notice that the parameters to the literal format do not use quotation marks to indicate strings, while the parameters to the constructor function do use quotation marks. So the following expressions create the same regular expression:

/ab+c/i
new RegExp("ab+c", "i")

DescriptionWhen using the constructor function, the normal string escape rules (preceding special characters with \ when included in a string) are necessary. For example, the following are equivalent:

re = new RegExp("\\w+")
re = /\w+/

The following table provides a complete list and description of the special characters that can be used in regular expressions.

Table 1.1 Special characters in regular expressions.

Character

Meaning

\

For characters that are usually treated literally, indicates that the next character is special and not to be interpreted literally.

For example, /b/ matches the character 'b'. By placing a backslash in front of b, that is by using /\b/, the character becomes special to mean match a word boundary.

-or-

For characters that are usually treated specially, indicates that the next character is not special and should be interpreted literally.

For example, * is a special character that means 0 or more occurrences of the preceding character should be matched; for example, /a*/ means match 0 or more a's. To match * literally, precede the it with a backslash; for example, /a\*/ matches 'a*'.

^

Matches beginning of input. If the multiline flag is set to true, also matches immediately after a line break character.

For example, /^A/ does not match the 'A' in "an A", but does match the first 'A' in "An A."

$

Matches end of input. If the multiline flag is set to true, also matches immediately before a line break character.

For example, /t$/ does not match the 't' in "eater", but does match it in "eat".

For example, /a+/ matches the 'a' in "candy" and all the a's in "caaaaaaandy".

?

Matches the preceding item 0 or 1 time.

For example, /e?le?/ matches the 'el' in "angel" and the 'le' in "angle."

If used immediately after any of the quantifiers *, +, ?, or {}, makes the quantifier non-greedy (matching the minimum number of times), as opposed to the default, which is greedy (matching the maximum number of times).

Also used in lookahead assertions, described under (?=), (?!), and (?:) in this table.

.

(The decimal point) matches any single character except the newline character.

For example, /.n/ matches 'an' and 'on' in "nay, an apple is on the tree", but not 'nay'.

(x)

Matches 'x' and remembers the match. These are called capturing parentheses.

For example, /(foo)/ matches and remembers 'foo' in "foo bar." The matched substring can be recalled from the resulting array's elements [1], ..., [n] or from the predefined RegExp object's properties $1, ...,$9.

(?:x)

Matches 'x' but does not remember the match. These are called non-capturing parentheses. The matched substring can not be recalled from the resulting array's elements [1], ..., [n] or from the predefined RegExp object's properties $1, ...,$9.

x(?=y)

Matches 'x' only if 'x' is followed by 'y'. For example, /Jack(?=Sprat)/ matches 'Jack' only if it is followed by 'Sprat'. /Jack(?=Sprat|Frost)/matches 'Jack' only if it is followed by 'Sprat' or 'Frost'. However, neither 'Sprat' nor 'Frost' is part of the match results.

x(?!y)

Matches 'x' only if 'x' is not followed by 'y'. For example, /\d+(?!\.)/ matches a number only if it is not followed by a decimal point./\d+(?!\.)/.exec("3.141") matches 141 but not 3.141.

x|y

Matches either 'x' or 'y'.

For example, /green|red/ matches 'green' in "green apple" and 'red' in "red apple."

{n}

Where n is a positive integer. Matches exactly n occurrences of the preceding item.

For example, /a{2}/ doesn't match the 'a' in "candy," but it matches all of the a's in "caandy," and the first two a's in "caaandy."

{n,}

Where n is a positive integer. Matches at least n occurrences of the preceding item.

For example, /a{2,} doesn't match the 'a' in "candy", but matches all of the a's in "caandy" and in "caaaaaaandy."

{n,m}

Where n and m are positive integers. Matches at least n and at most m occurrences of the preceding item.

For example, /a{1,3}/ matches nothing in "cndy", the 'a' in "candy," the first two a's in "caandy," and the first three a's in "caaaaaaandy". Notice that when matching "caaaaaaandy", the match is "aaa", even though the original string had more a's in it.

[xyz]

A character set. Matches any one of the enclosed characters. You can specify a range of characters by using a hyphen.

For example, [abcd] is the same as [a-c]. They match the 'b' in "brisket" and the 'c' in "ache".

[^xyz]

A negated or complemented character set. That is, it matches anything that is not enclosed in the brackets. You can specify a range of characters by using a hyphen.

For example, [^abc] is the same as [^a-c]. They initially match 'r' in "brisket" and 'h' in "chop."

[\b]

Matches a backspace. (Not to be confused with \b.)

\b

Matches a word boundary, such as a space. (Not to be confused with [\b].)

For example, /\bn\w/ matches the 'no' in "noonday";/\wy\b/ matches the 'ly' in "possibly yesterday."

The literal notation provides compilation of the regular expression when the expression is evaluated. Use literal notation when the regular expression will remain constant. For example, if you use literal notation to construct a regular expression used in a loop, the regular expression won't be recompiled on each iteration.

The constructor of the regular expression object, for example, new RegExp("ab+c"), provides runtime compilation of the regular expression. Use the constructor function when you know the regular expression pattern will be changing, or you don't know the pattern and are getting it from another source, such as user input.

A separate predefined RegExp object is available in each window; that is, each separate thread of JavaScript execution gets its own RegExp object. Because each script runs to completion without interruption in a thread, this assures that different scripts do not overwrite values of the RegExp object.

Property SummaryNote that several of the RegExp properties have both long and short (Perl-like) names. Both names always refer to the same value. Perl is the programming language from which JavaScript modeled its regular expressions.

ExamplesExample 1. The following script uses the replace method to switch the words in the string. In the replacement text, the script uses "$1" and "$2" to indicate the results of the corresponding matching parentheses in the regular expression pattern.

The name of the regular expression. It can be a variable name or a literal.

str

The string against which to match the regular expression.

DescriptionAs shown in the syntax description, a regular expression's exec method can be called either directly, (with regexp.exec(str)) or indirectly (with regexp(str)).

If you are executing a match simply to find true or false, use the test method or the Stringsearch method.

If the match succeeds, the exec method returns an array and updates properties of the regular expression object. If the match fails, the exec method returns null.

Consider the following example:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.2">
//Match one d followed by one or more b's followed by one d
//Remember matched b's and the following d
//Ignore case
myRe=/d(b+)(d)/ig;
myArray = myRe.exec("cdbBdbsbz");
</SCRIPT>

The following table shows the results for this script:

Object

Property/Index

Description

Example

myArray

The contents of myArray.

["dbBd", "bB", "d"]

index

The 0-based index of the match in the string.

1

input

The original string.

cdbBdbsbz

[0]

The last matched characters.

dbBd

[1], ...[n]

The parenthesized substring matches, if any. The number of possible parenthesized substrings is unlimited.

[1] = bB
[2] = d

myRe

lastIndex

The index at which to start the next match.

5

ignoreCase

Indicates if the "i" flag was used to ignore case.

true

global

Indicates if the "g" flag was used for a global match.

true

multiline

Indicates if the "m" flag was used for a global match.

false

source

The text of the pattern.

d(b+)(d)

If your regular expression uses the "g" flag, you can use the exec method multiple times to find successive matches in the same string. When you do so, the search starts at the substring of str specified by the regular expression's lastIndex property. For example, assume you have this script:

Descriptionmultiline is a property of an individual regular expression object..

The value of multiline is true if the "m" flag was used; otherwise, false. The "m" flag indicates that a multiline input string should be treated as multiple lines. For example, if "m" is used, "^" and "$" change from matching at only the start or end of the entire string to the start or end of any line within the string.

You cannot change this property directly.

prototype

Represents the prototype for this class. You can use the prototype to add properties or methods to all instances of a class. For information on prototypes, see Function.prototype.

The name of the regular expression. It can be a variable name or a literal.

str

The string against which to match the regular expression.

DescriptionWhen you want to know whether a pattern is found in a string use the test method (similar to the String.search method); for more information (but slower execution) use the exec method (similar to the String.match method).

ExampleThe following example prints a message which depends on the success of the test:

DescriptionThe RegExp object overrides the toString method of the Object object; it does not inherit Object.toString. For RegExp objects, the toString method returns a string representation of the object.

ExamplesThe following example displays the string value of a RegExp object: